BUILDING LEADERSHIP SKILLS:
COACHING FOR CHANGE AND RESULTS
Fall 2009
An Infopeople Program
Dr. Steve Albrecht, PHR, CPP
DrSteve@DrSteveAlbrecht.com
619-445-4735
This Workshop Is Brought to You By
the Infopeople Project
Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported
by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety
of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops
are offered around the state and are open registration
on a first-come, first-served basis.
For a complete list of workshops, and for other
information about the project, go to the Infopeople
website at infopeople.org.
Our Agenda
The business case for coaching library employees.
Coaching processes and delivery modes.
Targeted coaching for selected employees.
Running coaching meetings.
Teaching realistic and effective tools.
Coaching the Big Four.
Safe and effective role play practice.
Your Success Tools
1. Start thinking about current or potential coaching
candidates at your facility.
2. Stretch your comfort zone around the presenting
issues: meeting with employees, addressing
behavioral, performance, or career issues.
3. Take what you need from the materials, the
presenter, and your colleagues in the room.
4. Come back to the learning materials in one week.
Why Coaching?
What it is and what it isn’t.
Coaching A/K/A’s: New Names
Support
Guidance
Mentoring
Direction
Help
Advice
Career planning meetings
Assisted discovery
Initial Discussion Points
Labels vs. behaviors.
How not to get stuck with excuses or
rationalizations.
Addressing confidentiality concerns.
Writing after-action reports and recaps.
Using praise, recognition, rewards, and support.
Misconceptions On Coaching
The “Narcissistic Supervisor / Rescuer.”
The employee as needy or incompetent.
The supervisor “fixes” the employee.
The supervisor as a cheerleader.
The myth of the “all-purpose coach.”
Giving advice as a “life coach.”
We Coach Employees To:
Improve the:
Competency
Character
Chemistry
Culture
Limit the:
Relationship Problems
Authority Problems
Transition Problems
Service Problems
Conflict at work is expensive, timeconsuming, and hard on everyone.
Coaching Best Addresses
“The Big Four”
Work performance
Violations of policies & procedures
Attendance
Attitude
How do we demonstrate success?
Compliance, improvement, and positive changes in
attitude, service interactions, responsibility, and
accountability.
Coaching Goals
Job Knowledge
Skills
Abilities
Follows
policies and rules;
demonstrates
positive behaviors
Actual performance
versus
desired / expected performance
34 % of employees responding to a national
survey cited “limited recognition” as the most
common reason for leaving their jobs.
Can we use coaching as a “recognition” tool?
Robert Half Int’l. 1995
Crucial Conversations
by Patterson, Grenny et al.
(2002, McGraw-Hill)
Opinions vary.
Stakes are high.
Emotions run strong.
These can
give us
permission
to coach.
Best Boss – Worst Boss
Group Exercise #1
Think back to the best boss you ever worked for:
What character traits, skills, habits, or
supervisory techniques did he or she possess?
Think back to the worst boss you ever had.
What made him / her so bad?
Coaching Events: Business Impact
Pre-discipline intervention for the Big Four.
On-the spot / M.B.W.A.
To identify skill gaps or training needs.
For career planning and advice; mentoring.
To provide referrals for off-the-job problems.
As part of conflict resolution; to stop problems.
As a reward and to help improve morale.
Why Don’t We Coach?:
The Supervisor’s Paradox
Fear of conflict.
Fear of confronting poor performance.
No formal training.
No knowledge of or access to resources.
Top management apathy or resistance - until
something happens.
Inverse reward system.
Answering the “WII-FM?” Coaching
Question For Employees
It lets employees know where they stand with you.
It tells them what, specifically, they need to improve.
It helps them set their own personal, professional, and
educational goals.
It shows them what they need to do to promote or move
into other positions.
It rewards them for their efforts and accomplishments.
The Self-Fulfilling Prediction
Does what you think about your employees,
positively or negatively, have any effect on their
motivation or performance?
Expectations are a powerful thing. How you
expect people to work is generally how they
actually work.
Open-Ended Questioning
Two-Person Exercise #2
Supervisor: “Do you like your job?”
Employee: “Yeah, it’s okay.”
Ask more open-ended questions to get the
employee to tell you more. Build “conversational
momentum” and find a subject the employee
wants to discuss.
Laying The Foundation For Coaching:
Aligning for Success
Finding Coaching Candidates
Review past performance evaluations.
Speak with bosses and peer supervisors.
Offer coaching services via e-mail and staff
meeting announcements.
Meet proactively with at-risk employees.
Meet proactively with employees who are on the
fast track.
The Coaching Process
Most often driven by events . . .
1. Initial “Go / No Go” meeting.
2. One, four, or eight hourly sessions.
3. “Homework” – assigned readings, books or
articles, exercises, use of tools.
4. Post-session feedback to HR or your boss.
5. Session notes, final written report, regular
follow-ups.
Coaching Delivery Modes
On the spot: “corridor coaching”
On or off-site - Face to Face
By Phone
By E-mail
Giving homework and using a Reading Program
Using as many self-discovery questions as
possible, i.e., “What do you think?”
Self-Discovery Sample Questions
“What tools would you use in a patron service
situation?”
“What techniques would you use to create better
rapport with your co-workers?”
“How do you plan to organize your ideas for a
pending meeting with your boss?”
“Who has an approach, a tool, or a technique
you’d like to use in the future?”
Targeted Coaching
Executive / Strategic Coaching: senior leaders, strategic
issues, the top team. Goal = Direction
Career Development Coaching: leadership, career guidance.
Goal = Personal Skills
Performance Improvement Coaching: knowledge
enhancement, training. Goal = Job Skills
Corrective Coaching: career “rescue,” skills deficit, compliance
issues. Goal = Compliance
Special-Problems Coaching: special skills, special issues, highthreat situations. Goal = Peace
Executive / Strategic Coaching
What direction does the coachee want to take his
or her team, department, or facility?
Short or long term planning help.
Budgets and financial planning.
Employee retention through staffing, hiring, and
promoting.
Personal time and stress management tools.
Career Development Coaching
Formal education – return to school
Professional certifications
Exposure to training programs
Informal education – books, articles, web sites
Groups or associations to join
Creating mentor relationships
Performance Improvement Coaching
Use of time studies to track work hours.
Exposure to situations requiring more
responsibility.
Pinpointing unproductive activities.
Teaching time management tools and habits.
Prioritizing tasks based on importance and
urgency.
Corrective Coaching
Uses range from pre-discipline to post-discipline.
“Career rescue” issues.
Probationary period may be looming.
An attempt to address behavior within the Big
Three and/or that affects patrons and staff in
negative ways.
Issues that impact the coachee’s long term future
with the organization.
Personal Accountability Meetings (PAM’s)
Otherwise known as having a “cards on the table
meeting.”
Useful for employees who use sarcasm, negative
opinions, idea killing, or bad body language.
Try explaining your expectations and asking the
employee for his or her help.
Don’t argue or get overly-frustrated; tell the
employee what he or she needs to do to comply.
Corrective Coaching Tools
1. Consulting with HR and / or your boss.
2. Use of the “paid day off.”
3. Short and long term Performance
Improvement Plans (PIPs)
4. More goals, more often; more meetings; more
often.
5. Teaching responsibility and accountability, by
understanding consequence behaviors.
Special Problems Coaching
It’s not therapy; it’s a careful and ethical
conversation which respects boundaries.
EAP education and referral.
Paid or unpaid time off (consult with HR)
Liaison with city / county / private agencies who
can help.
Transition to a new job or career.
Anger Management Help
Anger is a secondary emotion.
There can be severe consequences to anger
problems, both personally and professionally.
It’s not our job to “coach” anger away; it’s our
job to know when it impacts the business, and
to make the right referrals.
Teach 4X4 Breathing and “The Pause.”
Frontstage Behavior Versus
Backstage Behavior
Pay attention to what you see or
hear and then try to determine
what is really going on.
One Issue – One Meeting
For employees with many issues, concerns, or
problem areas, it can feel like you need to solve
everything, all at once.
Remember, small turns by a tugboat can move an
aircraft carrier and a little sun melts an iceberg.
Try to solve one presenting issue per meeting.
Ground Rules for Coaching Meetings
A goal for each session.
Respect for each other’s time.
No physical or electronic interruptions.
As-discussed confidentiality.
Completed ‘homework” or readings.
Preparation for the next session.
Building Rapport
Keep the coachee in his / her comfort zone.
Use self-directed humor.
Use analogies, stories, metaphorical language.
Fill silence or allow silence.
Overcome the coachee’s sense of frustration, fear,
anxiety, apathy, or burnout.
Improve Your Listening Skills
Use as many open-ended questions as you can.
Look for ways to build “conversational
momentum.”
Seek to “open the gates of self-interest.”
Limit your use of yes / no questions, except when
you want agreement or closure.
Be comfortable with uncomfortable silences.
The L.E.A.P.S. Model
Listen actively
Empathize
Ask questions
Paraphrase
Seek solutions
Verbal Judo Institute ™
The Coachee’s List of Seven Choices
1.
2.
3.
4.
Leave the situation or the person.
Live with the situation or the person.
Change the situation or the person.
Change your perception of the situation or the
person.
5. Change your behaviors around the situation or
the person.
6. Change both your perceptions and your
behaviors.
7. Pretend you’ve changed.
Using the List of Seven Choices
Two-Person Exercise #3
Supervisor: Ask the employee, “What bugs
you about your job?”
Use The List of Seven Choices to convince
him or her that there are one or more
solutions to the issue.
Tools for Focusing
Think about how you might use the
following three tools to assist your
efforts during a coaching meeting . . .
The Keep / Stop / Start Tool
“What do I or we need to KEEP doing, because
it’s working?”
“What do I or we need to STOP doing, because
it’s not working?”
“What do I or we need to START doing,
because it will work better?”
Using Keep / Stop / Start
Group Exercise #4
Using the Keep / Stop / Start approach with
the index cards provided, develop a collection
of responses to the issues, problems, or
opportunities you’d like to solve at your facility.
Teaching the P.I.N. Tool
“What’s POSITIVE about the idea, proposal, policy,
or plan?”
“What’s INTERESTING about the idea, proposal,
policy, or plan?”
“Finally, what’s NEGATIVE about the idea,
proposal, policy, or plan?”
Practicing with the P.I.N. Tool
Group Exercise #5
Use the P.I.N. Tool with your group members
on a topic provided by your course leader.
Using the Three C’s Tool
COMMUNICATE – Let them tell you their issue, without
being judgmental. Listen carefully, without interrupting.
CLARIFY – Use paraphrasing questions to make certain
you understand their concerns. Ask for their solutions
or suggest your own.
COMMIT – Get their promise for a commitment to action.
When will they start doing what you’ve both now agreed
upon?
Coaching Meeting Steps
1. Plan for the meeting. (time, place, any handouts)
2. Open the meeting. (build rapport, discuss the purpose)
3. Describe any problem areas. (being specific)
4. Help the employee generate solutions. (ownership)
5. Discuss the solutions. (fine tune the choices)
6. Describe employee’s strengths. (reward successes)
7. Discuss a development plan. (next session)
8. Close the meeting. (with thanks and a recap)
Coaching Meeting Scripts
Spend time preparing a written plan.
Be descriptive: “What I’m seeing you do …” versus
“What I want to see you do. . .”
Define performance improvements in behaviorbased terms, not label-based terms.
Get permission to document during the meeting.
Spend time recapping after the meeting.
Avoid Saying the Wrong 10
Commanding
Sounding Parental
Minimizing
Interrogating
Projecting
Psychoanalyzing
Generalizing
Moralizing
Sidestepping
Sarcasm
“What you ought to do is . . .”
“When I was in your position . . .”
“It’s not that bad . . .”
“Why did you do that . . . ?”
“People in your position should . . .”
“It sounds like you’re in denial.”
“Everybody knows you should . . .”
“The ethical thing to do is . . .”
“Let’s talk about something else.”
“You didn’t mess up nearly as much
as usual.”
Don’t Allow The Big Four
Minimize
“I was only 15 minutes late.”
Deny
“I was on time; you didn’t see me.”
Rationalize
“There was a lot of traffic.“
Blame
“Somebody must have altered my
time card.”
Potential Reactions to Coaching
Tears?
Anger and constant disagreement?
Arguing each point?
Overly-agreeable?
Insubordinate?
Appreciative and cooperative?
Coaching the Big Four:
The Rising Star, The Problem Child, The
Plow Horse, and The Smart Slacker
Potential Contribution
High
Low
Coaching Candidates
Smart Slacker
Rising Star
Problem Child
Plow Horse
Real Contribution
High
© 2005 Dr. Steve Albrecht
Coaching the Big Four
Smart Slackers – Confront their behavior, attitude,
or performance. Remind them of their “legacy
employee” status. Ask for their help.
Problem Children – Use your progressive discipline
process. Ask them to make a stay/go choice.
Plow Horses – Encourage them to use optionthinking to problem-solve. Reward progress.
Shining Stars – Give them challenges but watch for
job burnout. Create a career path.
Skill-Building Through Coaching
Practice
Final Practice Exercise #7
The Coaching Contract
Based on specific behaviors, not labels.
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Deadline-driven, results-oriented, reward-focused.
The employee owns the solutions.
Recognizing shared fates and shared responsibilities.
Influencing: The Hidden Tool
Your ability to persuade your people to do their
work, not just by telling, but by selling.
Leadership is about building trust. It’s how you
use your knowledge, experience, and
intelligence to gently or boldly convince others
to follow your directions.
It’s known as “walking the talk.”
The Tools of Influence
Leading from the front and the rear. (Getting your
hands dirty, from time to time.)
Never lying.
Modeling consistency, reliability, and the humane
treatment of all.
Keeping your people informed.
Standing up for your people when it’s the right
thing to do.
The Coaching Dynamic
“A Spectrum of Influence”
Tutorial
Role
Advisory
Role
Assisted
Discovery